Paid Half of $5,500 and almost 4 months later No Site

Is this normal to wait this long on development? Was told no more than 45 days almost 4 months ago. today when I asked what the progress was I got "Frontpage is whats holding us up. I have a bunch of financial tools completed and a stock feed system in place

I am getting ready to install "Private" to handle your ads" and am using OpenX.com

I asked, "What is Frontpage" he replied "frontpage

the front page

getting all the data to play nicely"

****I've been worried for a while now he's not doing what he's supposed to be doing.

Four months is way too long to design all but the most complex of sites. Most designers/developers I know can produce at least a proof of concept for a new website within 2 - 4 weeks. I hope for your sake that they were referring to your homepage when they said they were having problems, and they are not building your site using the defunct Microsoft Frontpage software.

If your site is important to you now may be a good time to cut your loses and find a different company to build it for you, time is money and 4 months is totally unreasonable amount of time for something like this.

It's supposed to be built as a complex financial website but It's just that it keeps dragging out longer and longer for example. Around 6 weeks ago when it was already late, I asked "will it be up and running by Christmas?" and he replied "It will be done by Thanksgiving" but here I am with the reply from him I posted above and no site.

Four months may not be too long, it depends on just how complex the site is and how much real code work they are doing.. We've (and by we I mean William and David mostly) have been working for several months on our new site network to get all the databases to play nice together.. But we can also turn out a site in a few hours if it isn't complex.. So without knowing the specs in detail it's very hard to say if it's taking too long or the developer simply underestimated the task he signed on for..

That said, let me ask a few questions..

Is the developer US based or somewhere else?
Have you been able to see what has been done to this point even without a frontpage?
Is the developer the cheapest one you found or the first one?
Did he have a portfolio of similar complexity sites to show you or was this his first real site?

This is why on very large projects we do milestones.. Usually in 25% increments.. Get paid, work till we hit milestone. Get paid more, work more etc etc.. But it sounds like for $5500 you way underpaid based on the very little said here..

1.
It is a developer and designer, both US based and work together.
2.
I have not seen what he has done to this point accept for the layout proof back on August 15th, He wrote "Here is a design proof. Let us know what you like and dont like. The Stock and Currency Blocks will be on the front page it just wasnt added since this is a design comp (laid out in Photoshop/Fireworks) not an actual web page, All our designs when stated as custom design such as this one are built from scratch they will however still make use of Icons and Fonts when needed to get the look required.

**Around Halloween when I asked if he had something to show, he said he didn't want to because it would be ugly at that point. I understood it as just being a bunch of code.
3.
They were one of the more middle of the road pricing I guess. I had prices from $800-$10,000 and talked with probably over 40 different developers/designers and looked at more than 100. Most were well below the $5,500 price but this person was recommended.
4.
This isn't the most complex site they've done.

1. For a US based developer they way underbid the project without knowing a lot more than I've been able to guess at this point.

2. Even if it's ugly, they should be showing you functionality. You need to have your expectations in check in those viewing so that you don't start pointing out design issues and focus on functionality. I hate when we show WIPs (Work In Progress) to test functionality and have clients freak out because it's a plain white page with ugly fonts.

3. See #2

4. That's good to know.. It may simply be a time management issue on their part.. Those suck, but they happen.. I just moved 600 miles (still unpacking) and it has totally screwed with my schedules.. See #2.

Get a look at it even if it's ugly.. It sounds like it should be working at this point, just ugly.. If they still refuse to show it then you can start getting more aggressive with them..

Steve, Thanks for the tips and information. As far as the under bid, he said it was a good price and that I caught them at a good time being right at the end July, Said their schedule was open but then after I made the first payment it was one thing after another that consumed the programmers time.

I'll request to get a look tomorrow and see what he says, that way I can at least see what does or does not function with all the financial tools, videos, member portfolio area & registration, contact form, v-bulletin forum and anything else I can think of.

Good to hear from you. The crazy thing about it, is I actually had a problem with another person "from india" under bidding it before. He ran off with the money which was $650. So because of that I told these guys, "please don't under bid, I want you to make money and it to be fair for both of us"

Well, at this point, after hearing you guys, I'm now beginning to wonder if maybe it was under bid anyway.

By the way, I actually paid for the V-Bulletin License and sent the info over to him on top of the original price. It was agreed upon at the beginning that it would be this way.